Flowers bloom among thorns

By: Pedro Corzo - 20/07/2026

Guest columnist.
Share:     

At only 17 years old, the most illustrious of all Cubans wrote in prison, "Look at me, mother, and for your love do not cry, if, a slave to my age and my doctrines, I filled your martyred heart with thorns, remember that flowers are born among thorns."

Jose Marti, with the wisdom that defined him, understood at such an early age how traumatic prison is; however, he faced it with the fortitude that characterized him, just as many young Cubans of today do, who are not afraid to demand their rights, even if they end up in prison.

This July 11th marks the fifth anniversary of an unprecedented national protest in Cuba, in which hundreds of people were imprisoned for demanding rights curtailed by totalitarianism.

Under Castro's totalitarian regime, despite the horrors endured there, prisons have been a kind of oasis and crucible where prisoners, in forging their yearning for freedom, strengthen their commitment to the homeland. I believe the tyranny has never realized that those imprisoned harden their convictions and devise new ways to demand their rights.

Prison can be for some the end of their self-esteem, decorum and dignity, for others, a furnace where the values ​​that will guide them for the rest of their lives are forged, a reality that most Cubans of different generations who have passed through the prisons of Castro's totalitarianism have experienced.

Cuban youth have suffered the most from the horrors of prisons, and more than one has faced the infamous firing squad, as was the case of Emeterio García Rodríguez, shot at age 17 in 1962, and his comrade in arms, Teodoro González, who at age 15 was sentenced to death, a sentence commuted to 30 years, the same verdict received at age 16 by Ricardo Vázquez, who recently passed away.

Youth have been the main victims of the repressive system of Castroism, not only for the political management in which they may have participated, but also because they have been arrested and beaten for the way they dressed or wore their hair long, a use that the repressors punished with a shaved head and brutal beatings.

The repression reached more massive levels following the popular protests of July 11, 2021, as reflected in a report from June 30, 2026, which indicates that the number of minor political prisoners reached 40, the highest figure documented to date by the organization Prisoners Defenders, which specializes in these issues.

It's fair to say that Cubans living behind bars know how cruel and ruthless the dungeons of Castro's regime are, a fact that no one on the island is unaware of. However, the public's willingness to reclaim the rights that were taken from them decades ago is becoming increasingly apparent, a stark contrast to the recent past when parents told their children not to get involved in anti-government activities, because that was the only way it was supposed to be.

I remember expressions that deeply hurt those who fought against the regime, among others, "let whoever put him there remove him" or the most selfish of all, "I'm not going to be the first to protest," inventions that have been displaced by the painful reality that children and grandchildren are becoming impoverished before the eyes of parents and grandparents and that, to avoid a tragic end, it is essential to take whatever risks are necessary.

The population has stopped believing the tyranny's tales, including the urban legend that the oppressors know everything, as misery and despair grip them even more than before. The nightly protests are a testament to the widespread discontent, and the chains of oppression can be broken by the will of the people.

We've discussed this before, but it's important to remember that the Castro brothers stole the people's hope by imposing absolute power and a single ideology. Their control of society, and particularly the economy, fostered the belief that the new order was irrevocable—a perception that began to shift on July 11, 2021.

We are all aware that shedding fear demands a lot of effort and willpower, but when that pitcher that crushes the chest breaks, the prison breaks, to paraphrase Master Marti again, and life finally begins with the destruction of totalitarianism.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».